living in the woods and making stuff

I went out to the garden yesterday to inspect things, and found some surprise treats!

The lettuce of course re-seeded itself. I let a lot of lettuce go to seed, and now I have little babies growing all over the place.

Above is a chard plant. The stem from the original plant is under my finger. I had mulched around the plants in the fall, and I think that the dried leaf cover protected the plants during the winter.

Last summer was super hot, and my fall crop of carrots and turnips didn’t really develop well, so I left them in the ground over winter. Because the winter was so mild, a lot of the little guys made it. A row of carrots, which still taste good, although some of them have some sort of frostbite. I am going to leave them in and watch how they continue to grow.

A healthy patch of turnips. These guys might need thinning soon!

Some cilantro, which looks pretty good, and tastes great!

And a patch of frizzled frisee. Hopefully these guys grow into happy plants. I can’t wait to see.

Meanwhile, I planted some dwarf grey sugar peas, dragon carrots, danvers carrots, Paris market carrots, flat leaf parsley, sylvetta arugula (a low growing slow to bolt variety), endive, and chard. I worked the soil in the fall, incorporating manure and straw, and so this morning all I needed to do was turn the soil a little with a pitchfork, and break up a few clumps with my hands. Much easier than last year!! It certainly pays off to take good care of soil.

A happy little garden plot, looking forward to some spring rain this week!